Activity-induced droplet propulsion and multifractality

We develop a minimal hydrodynamic model, without an orientational order parameter, for assemblies of contractile swimmers encapsulated in a droplet of a binary-fluid emulsion. Our model uses two coupled scalar order parameters, $ϕ$ and $ψ$, which capture, respectively, the droplet interface and the activity of the contractile swimmers inside this droplet. These order parameters are also coupled to the velocity field $\bm u$. At low activity, our model yields a self-propelling droplet whose center of mass $(CM)$ displays rectilinear motion, powered by the spatiotemporal evolution of the field $ψ$, which leads to a time-dependent vortex dipole at one end of the droplet. As we increase the activity, this $CM$ shows chaotic super-diffusive motion, which we characterize by its mean-square displacement; and the droplet interface exhibits multifractal fluctuations, whose spectrum of exponents we calculate. We explore the implications of our results for experiments on active droplets of contractile swimmers.

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